Bumblebeez... I am fairly certain that those are a European species of Linden (Basswood), Tilia cordata, that has been introduced into this country and is usually the species or sometimes a cultivar, that is offered in the nursery trade. They are a cool climate tree and never attain the stature in the south that would be expected in the northern states. The habit can naturally be pyramidal or rounded. I know of one in a local garden that is very old and is only about 25-30 ft. tall. If you have or plan to visit the Statue of Liberty in NY harbor, you will see these trees in the Plaza between the ferry dock and the rear of the Statue. They also grow in Manhatten's Central Park. They will tolerate some very austere site locations. Many cities in Europe and the US use them as "Street" trees that are located between the sidewalk and the curb. I have no recommended source for these, but I'm sure there are a number of growers that supply those for municipalities that buy hundreds of them. If you order online, be sure to check the vendor at GardenWatchDog before ordering. Rb

Deposit down, name on slab! (#1) It is some type of marble, not sure which, any ideas? Fellow at yard, said they put some type of sealer on it, so normal bathroom use, toothpaste, etc shouldn't be any problem. Remnant is over double the size of what I need, so there should be lots to cut out shelves for shower niches! So, bought pendant lights for vanity at blowout sale, granite guy also sells tile, he gave me tons of samples for backsplash, I think I've found a winner, I had originally thought of pebbles, (which look great with the marble), but this broken stone that he threw in my car goes so well with my lights...LOL Limestone looking porcelain tile, colour I'm going with is the one closest to the stone BS. Marble sample isn't my kind of marble, but the colour tones are the same. Took it home just to play with colours. So, am thinking Limestone looking tile for floor and shower walls, broken stone for BS and walls of shower niches, marble for countertop and shelves of niches. Oh yeah, I got a fan/light combo for $29 ~ $100 off regular price, both pendants were also $29, listed @ $157, but lighting is so ridiculously over-priced saw the same light listed at homedepot.ca for $50, still a deal, just not as good as I'd originally thought! OK, just got off the phone with the tile/granite guy, and the noce BS is regularly $17 each 4 X 12" piece, he wants to clear it out, so he'll sell it to me for 60% off, so $6.80 a piece, now I just need to figure out how much I want....MMMMmmmm Oh, and while in town, saw my favourite ladies dress shop had a clearance sale, nice $115 top for $5, and a pair of $80 khaki walking shorts for $5...am I on a roll or what? LOL

Many years ago, when the closest IKEA was 6 hours drive, we did this. I definitely recommend taking a road trip to see them in person before you order, though. The ones we chose from the catalog didn't look as nice in person, but some we had never considered were fabulous in real life, so we got those instead. The IKEA we used had a kitchen design staff (some do not) so we were assigned one person who helped us coordinate our order. I think this is important as there are so many little parts you might not realize you need. They shipped the whole order to us in a freight truck. It was a great experience. The cabinets were great. Make sure you allow LOTS of time to put them together, if you are DIY. If you're having someone install them, see if you can get a recommendation from Ikea for your town. Many carpenters have no clue how to use the Ikea system. We assembled the boxes ourselves (since it would have negated the savings if we'd hired someone to do so) but had the carpenters install. They could not understand the Ikea instructions and ended up just screwing the boxes to the wall. I would have preferred they'd used the Ikea hager system.... Hope this helps. Stacey

ErinB, you're not using your time well and need to take a breath and focus on what you need to be doing. You've chosen your cabinetmaker. Good. Now you need your design -- one you can present to the Ikea designer for quality input. Maybe plan to sit up an extra 1 hour tonight after everyone else has gone to bed. Spend that time taking very careful, double-checked measurements, writing them down, and entering them in the Ikea designer. Try an initial layout to get started. It's not a complex program. People who have no intention of buying Ikea use it, and you'll get most of the hang of it right away. This IS the way to FAST-LANE this project and get a kitchen you are happy with. If a cabinet won't "stick" exactly where you want it, or something, don't sweat it, just get it on the page in the general area. Give your layout, no matter how cruddy, a name, save it, and go to bed. Tomorrow as you go about your day, you'll probably be percolating ideas that the initial process stimulated. Take time to sit down and try a couple out on the designer. Print them out so you can lay them on a table and look at them together. At this point, the process is on track and you're in control. Having fun thinking about what you want. You may feel so good about the way you're going that you decide to skip forum input, print out a preliminary parts and price list, and present your favorite layouts to the Ikea designer for further work on Thursday morning. If you're wondering about various potential options and issues, though, you can always post one of your layouts on the Ikea program here or Ikeafans to get advice and ideas. In that case, plan to delay a day, or even two, for occasionally checking for forum feedbacks as they come in and discussing and adjusting. Note that the Ikea program totals up all the parts and costs without you paying any attention to that side of it at all. If you want to cut price a bit, you plug in a different door style and check the new total at the bottom of pages and pages of various parts names. Super easy! No calculator or paper needed. This will be a pretty solid cost estimate but still preliminary at this point until you've decided on a final plan with the Ikea person. Enjoy. :) (Beverly, your kitchen looks wonderful!)